Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-12-17
The Yellow River OverflOWs q PeDu.
lOus and Rich Plain.
titute Where Plenty Reigned.
Eleven Cities Inundated and Th0Rs,
ands Of People Drowned.
A Mass Of People Wandering on the
River Bank Homeless and Hungry.
The Coming Winter Will Increase the
Distress and Misery.

NAV AANCioVOs ACCO"OCI 1Os-4 IA
steamship City OF Sydney arrived thu
afternoon from Hong Kong and Yoke.
hama. Chinese papers give details OF !
disaster oceasioned by the Yellow River
overflowing it's bank in the province el
Honan. and describe it as one of the most
property recorded in recent times. The
river broke it's bank ON the evening of Sep
tember 28th, southwest OF the city os
Ching Chow, and not only completely inun.
dated that city, but also ten other pope
lous cities. The whole area is now a raging
sea, ten to thirty feet deep, where it was 3
densely populated and rich plain. The
former bed of the Yellow River is now dry,
and the present lake was the bed of the
river centuries ago. The loss OF life is in-
calculab BILE. The statement is made By
missionaries that millions of Chinese are
homeless and starving. Thomas Patton
one of the American missionaries. writing:
from Honan Province under date of Octo-.
Der %, says: "The newly gathered crops.
houses and trees are all swept away, in
volving fearful loss of life. The country
was covered with fine winter wheat, which
is gone, and implies the complete destfuc.
ton OF next years crop. =
BREAD, BREAD n
is the cry of thousands who are on the rive,
banks. Benevolent people go in boats ant
throw bread among the masses here ans
there, but it is nothing compared with the
of the mass OF people whc
are still living, increased by continual ar
rivals, even more hungry than the last
There they sit, stunned, hungry and de.
jected, without q rag to wear or mOrsei
of food. Mat huts are being erected for
them to the west of this, but what it will
be in two months l cannot conceive. The
misery il increased owing to the bitter cold
weather." The Yellow river has long beer
known as 'China's sorrow" and
the present disaster has served tss.
reassert it's right to the terrible
title. As yet the details OF the disaster are
very meagre. 1t has occurred in a district
where but few foreigners are, and reports
furnished by officials and published in the
Pekin Gazette convey very inadequate
idea of the extent OF loss of life and prop
erty, and the suffering OF the survivors:
The Governor OF Honan reports to the
throne that nearly all the people have been
drowned in the district reached by water.
the survivors being those who escaped to
high ground or took refuge in trees, whera
they remained till they were rescueai
This gives but little impression as to what
the
EXTENT OF THE DISASTER
really is. The Chinese Times states that
in the Province OF Chilli, where disastrous
have also occurred, there are
100000 people homeless in addition
to those whose lives were destroyed and
adds that the misery in that province is
trifling compared with that caused by tbe
Huangho or Yellow River. The extent OF
ground swept over ty the overwhelming
food given in English figures is over seven
square miles, and the land thus
submerged formed part OF one OF the richest
and most densely populated plains Of
Northern China. The necessity for liberia
aid may therefore be imagined. Already
sums have been contributed
towards the relief of the sufferers. The
Emperor OF China has given two millions
OF taels, and the Chinese have started
SUBSCRIPTION LIST
in Shanghai to which foreigners have liber-
ally contributed. Millions have been rem
dered houseless and entirely deprived OF all
chance of earning their livelihood, for their
fields will either become a permanent lake
or an uninhabitable swamp. 1t is feared
that the distress which will be felt during
the coming winter will equal in intensity
the famine of ten years ago, when charita-
BILE donations contributed from all parts OF
the world were utterly inadequate. 1t IS
stated that. owing to the action taken by
the Yellow River, it no longer flows toward
the sea. but seems content in converting
Eastern Honan and Northern Iyanwhui
into a lake. It may ultimately flow into
the sea through the kiangon, or it may
II tLo Xo xantaz "a